Nameless by Lili St. Crow
Tales of Madness and Beauty #1
Published: April 4th 2013 by Razorbill
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Summary:
When Camille was six years old, she was discovered alone in the snow by Enrico Vultusino, godfather of the Seven—the powerful Families that rule magic-ridden New Haven. Papa Vultusino adopted the mute, scarred child, naming her after his dead wife and raising her in luxury on Haven Hill alongside his own son, Nico.
Now Cami is turning sixteen. She’s no longer mute, though she keeps her faded scars hidden under her school uniform, and though she opens up only to her two best friends, Ruby and Ellie, and to Nico, who has become more than a brother to her. But even though Cami is a pampered Vultusino heiress, she knows that she is not really Family. Unlike them, she is a mortal with a past that lies buried in trauma. And it’s not until she meets the mysterious Tor, who reveals scars of his own, that Cami begins to uncover the secrets of her birth… to find out where she comes from and why her past is threatening her now.
Reading the premise, I went in thinking that this was going to be a very great dark retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. With a bonus of vampires and other types of creatures mixed in. What I got was a lot different that what I was expecting to get.
First, I want to talk about Cami. I really liked her in the beginning. She was mysterious with a dark hidden past, and just trying to find her place in the world. But then, the “I’m not really a Vultusino, so I shouldn’t get comfortable” routine got old real quick. She’s been there since she was 6 years old, if they were going to get rid of her I think they would have done it by now. She definitely has the I’m a little rich girl with no real problems so I will create problems for myself syndrome. This was especially evident, when everyone is just trying to help her and keep her safe and she just runs off and tries to do things without consulting anyone. I understand being independent and doing things on your own, but when someone has to bail you out of every situation it’s time to grow as a character and figure things out. I think that was my biggest problem with Cami. There was no actual character growth, so therefore she wasn’t very relatable. She just seemed very whiny and then petulant when things didn’t go her way.
Cami’s relationship with Nico was an interesting one. At first it was kind of like a big brother/little sister vibe that turned into a romantic one? Then after her birthday, their relationship became super weird and almost like he was a father figure. At least, that was how it seemed she was treating it. It was like all before her birthday, Cami knew exactly how Nico felt about her and didn’t question it one bit. Then she did a complete 180, and acted like if she did one single thing wrong he would kick her out of the house and never speak to her again. To sum up, their relationship is not very believable and therefore are my least favorite couple this year.
Plot wise, this book moved very slow and I mean achingly slow. For the first half of the book, I think the author was trying to set up the world? But all I got was confusion, on top of confusion. There are so many different types of creatures and references to an event that happened to create the dystopian world, I have no idea what any of it means. We are left with a lot more questions than answers. The plot started in the prologue and then didn’t reappear again to about halfway through the book, or at least that’s what it seemed like. The big moment felt very rushed, and then for me the ending took way too long.
Overall, I was very meh about this book. I really enjoyed St. Crows Strange Angels series, so I was hoping that I would enjoy this one as well. At this point, I don’t think I will continue with the series as there is way too many books on my TBR shelves to read. But, if you do enjoy dystopianesque, vampires, and fairy tale retellings you may enjoy this book and hopefully more than I did!
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